Our projects

Each project is an area of law or subject matter that the Law Commission has agreed to review. The Commission works on several projects at a time. Together, these projects make up the Commission's annual work programme.

Use the search filters below to find particular projects. For more information on how we work see how we conduct projects.

The Criminal Procedure (Simplification) project was a joint project between the Ministry of Justice and the Law Commission. It had two objectives: to reduce unnecessary court delays through legislative and operational change, and to create a...

The purpose of this project is to simplify the statutory provisions governing the laying of criminal charges and infringement offences and their progress through the court system to the point of determination, including appeals, so as to remove...

This project urgently reviews the law on dishonestly procuring valuable benefits. The Court of Appeal decision in R v Wilkinson (13 October 1998, CA 122/98) demonstrates that certain dishonest actions which constitute the offence of theft or...

Part 8 of the Crimes Act 1961 deals with crimes against the person. The project reviewed the adequacy and coherence of the current offence provisions, considered whether there were any gaps in them and revised maximum penalty levels. The project...

The purpose of this project was to examine and review the Limitation Act, which lays down rules for determining the cut-off dates after which it is too late for an intending plaintiff to bring a civil claim. When the Government indicated it...

This project proposes a draft Property Law Act to replace the Property Law Act 1952. One of the most important objectives of the new Act is to set forth rules of property law accessibly and in a manner which, allowing for the subject matter, can...

This project reviews the Property Law Act 1952. At the same time the Department of Justice is reviewing aspects of the Land Transfer Act 1952 because new techology is proposed for the system of registration. This project is concerned with certain...

This project reviews the law relating to personal property securities in New Zealand. It recommends that a new Personal Property Securities Act be enacted in place of Part IV of the Companies Act 1955, and the whole of the Chattels Transfer Act...